About us

About Elzaan Rohde

Elzaan Rohde

Elzaan Rohde is the original sign-bearer at Semaphore Communications and has been building the reputations of a broad range of business clients for over 18 years.

Her career started in the Dotcom era when Internet startups dreamt big. Over time, the industry’s unlimited possibility has kept her fascinated. From Musk rocket ships, to illness-detecting medical devices, and Artificial Intelligence.

As a team, we’re eternally curious and read everything we can find. We drink too much coffee, and can’t rest until we’ve done the job. We aspire to work we can be proud of, underpromise and overdeliver, and become a partner to our clients. We’re smart, tenacious and resourceful. And we balance top efficiency with a good sense of humour.

About Semaphore

Since Six Degrees, the world’s first social media, was launched in 1997, communications has changed completely. But in an industry often obsessed with the best digital tools to use, great stories are still your currency.

We know how to craft a strong story and get it in front of the right eyes. We also guide you on the right path – a bit like a semaphore.

Why Semaphore

In computer science, developers use a semaphore to avoid deadlocks in parallel programming environments. This is because several developers can’t always access a shared resource, like a database, at the same time.

Think of a single railroad track. It can only handle one train at a time. Semaphore signals the train when it can go or should wait for its turn. In the physical world, Semaphore is still used for visual signaling with flags, particularly at sea.

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung said:

“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”

The full quote is about fulfilling one’s calling. But to us, it’s also about backing up words with action – delivering what you promised your customer. This idea is also very relevant to PR. You need to provide the proof to back up your claims. Otherwise, it’s just hot air that will never achieve true perceptual change.

As Linux founder Linus Torvalds also said: “Talk is cheap. Show me the code.”